New Additions to DFL Platform

Basically the platform and the action agenda, is what the DFL tries to make law. With Governor Pawlenty opposed to good government, that is hard. Every level that a resolution passes shows support. The highest level of support is passage on the state level and inclusion on the action agenda. Here are the preliminary results of what is being added this year at DFL State Convention:

DFL Platform and Issues Commission
2008 DFL State Convention – Preliminary Results

Proposed Wording for the New On-Going Veterans Affairs Category

Preamble for Veterans Affairs: We honor and respect the men and women who have served and are serving our country. We must advocate for their physical and emotional well-being, both abroad and at home, as well as their economic security. We must ensure that our military is the best-trained, equipped, and supported force in the world and that the men and women of our military are ready to meet the new threats of the 21st century. Their sacrifices and those of their families must never be forgotten.

We support:
1) New plank: Providing veterans’ benefits to members of the state militia (National Guard and Air National Guard) and military reserves deployed in active federal service equal to those provided to members of the active military as defined by Article 10.
2) New Plank: Providing timely and sufficient funding to appropriate government agencies to honor all our obligations to active duty military and military veterans.
3) Moved from Government Accountability to the Public: Providing veterans and military personnel with appreciation, respect, and benefits merited through honorable service to our country.
4) Moved from Government Accountability to the Public: Efforts to locate and bring home service personnel who are prisoners of war or missing in action.
5) Moved from Civil, Human, and Constitutional Rights: Only voluntary enlistment in the armed service.

RESOLUTIONS

Amendments to the On-going Platform
2. . Civil and Human Rights (modified plank): We oppose discrimination against any person on the basis of race, creed, religion, immigration status, sex, sexual or affectional orientation, HIV status, marital or homemaker status, disability or age.
3. Tax and Budget Policy (new plank): We support balancing the federal budget and reducing the National debt
Action Agenda Items
7. Promote local foods, sustainable agricultural practices on small family farms, and implement environmental safeguards to protect Minnesota’s water resources.
17. Support green industries and the jobs they produce by creating incentives for manufacturing and installing solar energy systems, state loans for schools and local governments who install renewable energy technology, encouraging green construction standards, the creation of green industry manufacturing parks, investment in public transit, and public education and research which support green industries.
22. In the absence of marriage equality, fully recognize civil unions for same-sex domestic partners and make available to them all the rights, privileges, and protections available to married couples.
27. Require pharmacists to distribute medication prescribed by a physician without moral judgment or discrimination.
28. Crack down on predatory lending and other mortgage fraud, provide remedies for borrowers to prevent foreclosures, and protect the rights of tenants living in foreclosed properties.
29. 12 Place a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures to allow owners to work with lenders to avoid losing their homes
31. Repeal the No Child Left Behind Act.
32 Reduce class sizes in Minnesota schools.
34. Make public higher education affordable to all citizens by providing state and federal financial aid grants, loans, and tax credits based on family income.
35. Adequately fund the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MNSCU) by requiring the state to meet its legally stipulated 67% share of college instructional costs.
37. Increase state investments to help all parents understand child development needs from prenatal through high school, and afford access to quality childcare, and school or community-based early childhood-family education programs.
47. Roll back tax credits to big oil, gas, and coal companies and redirect the funds to alternative energy resources.
48. Provide tax credits for alternative energy sources, such as wind, solar, biomass, fuel cell, etc. Also, provide education and resources in the form of grants and low interest loans and provide energy tax credits for small wind producers.
49. Fund public research and development of alternative energy resources.
58. Adopt Instant Runoff Voting for state and local elections.
73. Enact the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Insurance Parity Act, make mental health treatment accessible to residents of small towns and rural areas, and fund affordable, supportive housing for people suffering from mental illness.
80. Pass the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) to ensure workers have the freedom to form and join a union without fear of retaliation. Oppose all efforts to make it harder for workers to organize and work to eliminate or abolish the “Right to Work” laws currently in effect in many states.
87. Formulate and implement a strategic plan to withdraw from Iraq in a respectful and thoughtful manner.
88. Oppose all forms of torture as defined by the Geneva conventions and establish the Army Field Manual for Interrogations (FM 2-22.3) as the minimum standard of treatment for all detainees, and end the extraordinary rendition of prisoners to countries that use torture and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment.
90. Repeal the Patriot Act.
95. Sign the Kyoto protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to slow the effects of global warming.
99. Shift to a sustainable economy based on energy efficiency and expanded use of clean renewable energy production, such as wind and solar power because global warming is real and climate change is a major threat.
Action Agenda: Public Safety and Crime Prevention
Retirement Security
119. Oppose privatizing Social Security.
Action Agenda: Tax and Budget Policy
Action Agenda: Transportation
132. Develop mass transit options in the State of Minnesota including light rail, commuter rail and high-speed rail. These systems should be interconnecting, with stations linking to busses, sidewalks, and trails.
Action Agenda: Veterans Affairs
135. Remove barriers that prevent or hamper military members and veterans from seeking and receiving diagnosis and treatment for mental health issues, including combat stress and posttraumatic stress disorder, while guaranteeing direct and immediate face-to-face access to qualified mental health professionals.
(from an email)